The business process services sector is forecast to be the largest segment, accounting for about 77 percent of the total market, while infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is the fastest-growing segment, increasing 45.4 percent in 2012.

In Australia total cloud services spending is tipped to have a compound annual growth rate of 16.9 percent from 2011 to 2016.

Gartner notes that high growth rates will occur in emerging markets, including India, Indonesia and China.

It says Australia is part of the more mature section of Asia-Pacific market, where growth rates will be lower. In Sydney, Gartner VP Rolf Jester downplayed suggestions in some reports that the recent court case concerning Optus's ill-fated TV Now service might scare off potential cloud providers from expanding into the Australian market"

Obviously, these are issues both providers and users need to think through," he told ZDNet Australia.

"But providers are still entering new markets, such as India and China, where there are sometimes quite stringent restrictions."